To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what criteria his Department uses in determining the award of contracts; and how much his Department and its predecessors spent on the advertisement of tenders for Government contracts since 1997. (303098)

Contracts are awarded on the basis of the most economically advantageous offer taking into account economic, technical and commercial considerations using criteria linked to the subject matter of the contract. No costs are incurred by the Ministry of Justice on the advertisement of tenders. We are required to advertise certain types of contracts in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) which is a free of charge service and we also take advantage of other free trade journals.